Date: Saturday 18th January, 2014
At MTN Arena – Lugogo
The semi finals of the Intermediate Boxing Championships came to an end on Thursday evening in Kampala, with Naguru based club East Coast leading, 19 points adrift rivals Police Boxing Club.
East Coast Boxing Club set the tournament alight, with exceptional talent in the likes of Moses Ayisa, who beat Bashir Lutalo (technical Knockout), Musa Shadir, who discliplined Faisal Kasule, and Reagan Ssimba who also defeated Alex Kakooza, to book slots in Saturday’s finals at Lugogo Arena.
Community Organisation Based Aids Programme Boxing Club (COBAP), Police and Uganda People’s Defence Forces however remained title contenders, having qualified boxers for the finals, unlike Katwe, Entebbe, Scorpion and Kilembe clubs that were not successful.
According to Uganda Boxing Federation Spokesperson Fred Kavuma, a lot of hurdles have been met during the championships. They include, lack of equipment, evidenced by occasional ring collapses, head injuries due to frequent head butts, because boxers at this stage are now fighting without head gears.
Away from the difficulties faced by the organisers, Kavuma further revealed that a National Open Championship will succeed the intermediates next month.Then, the best of the best will be selected to make the list needed by the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) for representation at the 2014 Glasgow Common Wealth Games, Scotland.
